San Diego  Michael Murray thought he would be working in a tropical paradise about now.

But that was before the 25-year-old, who grew up in Temecula and Santee, came across the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming at San Diego State University.

“I went to San Diego State to do hotels,” Murray said. “I wanted to do a hotel in Hawaii.”

Instead of showing up for work on the shores of Oahu or Maui, Murray now heads to the eastern edge of El Cajon to start his overnight shift as a slot operations supervisor at Sycuan Casino.

And he says he couldn’t be happier about it.

“I like the people in slots, the people I work with and the guests,” Murray said. “The benefits are good. The pay is good. It doesn’t even seem like a job. It’s exactly what I wanted.”

The tribal gaming institute is part of SDSU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. It was launched with a $5.5 million endowment from the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians in 2005.

The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians also contributes, primarily by making officials and managers available to speak to students and offering tours of its casino operations.

The Barona band works with National University, which offers an online program leading to a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and casino management.

The Sycuan Institute’s mission includes commissioning and funding academic research into issues related to tribal gaming and granting degrees with an emphasis on tribal casino management.

The first students to get those degrees, just over 10, graduated in 2008 and 2009, said Kate Spilde, chairwoman of the institute. About 10 more are currently pursuing that emphasis.

Murray is one of two graduates working at the Sycuan Casino.

“I would never have been here (without the program),” he said. “It got me this job. First, it got me an internship.”

Sheila House, general manager of Sycuan Casino, said the facility takes about six interns a summer from the program, eventually hiring some graduates into permanent positions — though some of those have already moved on.

The institute was created in part, House said, “to help us fill some of the open positions we always have. It’s great. It’s local. SDSU gives us these kids straight out of college with new ideas and they’ve been exposed to tribal gaming ... which is very different from commercial gaming. They understand it’s governed through a compact with the state and through a tribal gaming commission.”

House, Spilde and others repeatedly stress the differences between tribal and nontribal casinos.

“Our program focuses on government-owned gaming,” said Spilde, who holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology as well as a master’s degree in business administration. “That’s very different from commercial gaming. By law, 100 percent of tribal net revenues must be spent in tribal communities.

“We focus on tribal government in particular,” she said, “and the special federally directed framework under which tribes operate. Our students are very well-versed in federal Indian law. And we focus on the cultural element and the social and cultural recovery of tribes from years of genocide and repression.”